This PS tutorial will introduce you how to use Photoshop to soften portrait skin without losing image details such as eyes, lips and skin texture. This PS tutorial is mainly softened by applying filters, similar to image sharpening, but not in the same way. The tutorial will detail the application of the filter, let you understand the principle of the PS filter and other tools, not just the stylized processing steps.
The PS operation version of this tutorial is CS6. It can be used with Photoshop CC and Photoshop CS5. If CS4 and earlier versions may be slightly different, it is recommended to use the latest version. Combine the tutorial operation with your own material, or use the image below to manipulate the material.
Step 1: Copy the original layer
After opening the image in Photoshop, you can see that the footage layer exists as a background layer in the Layers panel.
As mentioned earlier, the first step is to remove the streaks of the portrait. Copy the portrait first, and press Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) to drag the portrait layer thumbnail to the new layer button at the bottom of the Layers panel.
Press Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) to drag the layer onto the New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers panel. You can call up the Layer Settings panel and set the layer name before creating a new layer copy. Here set the layer copy name to "defect Repair" and click OK to close the settings panel.
At this point, you can see in the Layers panel that the newly created defect repair layer is above the original portrait layer and is displayed in blue as the current operation object, so the current operation will work on the defect layer, but not Will change the original layer.
Step 2: Select the stain repair brush tool
Next, select the Bug Fix Brush tool in the toolbar.
Step 3: Set the repair mode to content recognition
After selecting the Blot Repair Brush tool, click Fix Mode in the Settings Settings bar to identify the content. Content recognition is
Photoshop CS5's first new stain repair feature allows for better stain repair.
Step 4: Click Fix defect
Using the Blot Repair Brush to click on the defect position, you can replace the defect image with the image around the defect position.
If the portrait has a large red dot on the forehead, it may be acne or a mosquito bag. Here you need to set the brush size to control the scope of the repair and the sampling range. Press the keyboard "[" and "]" to quickly adjust the brush size. As shown in the figure below, the diameter of the brush just covers the red dot.
After clicking the brush against the red dot position, Photoshop will calculate the ideal skin texture around the red dot to replace the red dot, and adjust the red dot to the surrounding color transition, so that the overall look is flawless. Of course it can't be perfect, but the effect is not bad.
For the forehead spots, also use the stain repair brush to click on the repair, just adjust the brush size just to cover the red dot and OK.
If you feel that the repair is not good, or the brush size is too small, press Ctrl+Z (Win) / Command+Z (Mac) to undo the operation, then adjust the brush diameter and fix the position until the effect is OK.
After repairing the forehead red dot, start other repair steps.
Continue to use the stain repair brush to remove the flaws on the face of the portrait, including the small acne of the portrait chin. It should be remembered that defect repair is only for temporary skin problems, such as acne, erythema and other skin problems, but for black sputum or scars and other portrait characteristics, cannot move. Because the skin treatment only makes the skin look better, not the facelift , the portrait is changed beyond recognition.
Repair can't be used for a lot of time. The figure below is the comparison of the effects before and after defect repair. Has it changed a lot?
Step 5: Copy the repair layer
After the defect repair work is basically completed, the dermabrasion and skin softening begin. Drag the defect repair layer to the Layers panel New Layer button by pressing Alt (Win) / Option (Mac).
Name the duplicate layer "Skin Soften" and click OK to close the Settings panel.
When finished, the skin softening layer will be created above the defect repair layer.
Step 6: Apply high contrast retention filter
The skin softening treatment will be performed below with a high contrast retention filter. In the main menu bar, choose Filter > Other > High Contrast Hold.
If you are familiar with high contrast retention, it may be because you have used it for image sharpening. The high contrast retention filter in this case is not used to sharpen the image, but some steps will be similar. High-contrast retention filters primarily look for individual edges in the image, where the color or brightness changes suddenly between adjacent pixels. In portrait images, these edges are in the hair, eyes, mouth, and so on. On the other hand, because the skin texture transition is smoother, this will cause the high contrast retention filter to be ignored. We officially use this feature for skin softening.
When image sharpening is performed, the high contrast retention filter detects the edges and enhances the contrast for sharpening purposes, but does not affect the skin. The opposite is to do the opposite, the edge is detected by the high contrast retention filter, and the edge is not softened.
In the high contrast retention filter settings panel, the radius is the setting value that controls the edge width. That is to say, after Photoshop detects the edge, the radius determines how many attachment pixels the edge contains. A small radius will detect small edges, but it will allow us to soften only the areas outside the edges, so that the more edges detected, the better, because the application of the softening effect is more accurate. In this case, the radius is set to 24 pixels.
If your photo resolution is low or distant, setting a small radius will work better. Here you can try to set the radius to 18 pixels or 12 pixels, depending on the characteristics of the image itself. Why do you want to focus on the setting of the radius here, because if the number selected is a multiple of 3, it will help the next step. For example, like 24/18/12 can be divided by 3.
Click OK to turn off the high contrast retention filter setting. At this point, the image will become a bit gray, and the gray area indicates that the filter does not detect the edge, and the edges are now displayed in high contrast.
Step 7: Select Gaussian Blur Filter
Next, add a Gaussian Blur filter effect to the high-contrast retention filter effect, which may be considered bad, but actually gives you an excellent skin texture. In the main menu bar, choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.
Just like the setting of the high contrast retention filter, you also need to set the radius of the Gaussian blur filter. The radius value here is preferably set to 1/3 of the high contrast retention filter radius value, which is 8 pixels.
Click OK to close the window. When a Gaussian Blur filter is added, the high contrast retention filter looks softer and reduces detail.
Step 8: Set the layer blend mode to linear light
Set the skin softening layer blend mode to linear light and blend the high contrast preserve filter effect into the image.
When the filter effect is blended, the contrast of the image appears high and there is an over sharpening. But don't worry, this is only temporary.
Step 9: Layer inversion
If you just want to over sharpen the image, it is now complete. If you want to continue to soften the skin, you should continue with the following steps. The key to using the high-contrast retention filter as a softening rather than sharpening is to reverse the layer. Select Image > New Adjustment Layer > Invert in the menu bar, or press Ctrl+I (Win) / Command+I (Mac).
After the layer is inversely adjusted, the image changes from over sharpening to blurry images.
Step 10: Turn on blending options
To reduce blurring, click the button in the Layers panel in the image below.
In the pop-up menu, click to select the blending option.
In the open blending options dialog, you can see that there are two pairs of sliders underneath, one pair is to adjust the layer, the other is to adjust the next layer, through these two pairs of sliders can adjust the currently selected map The blending effect of the layer and the layers below. Here you need to adjust the skin softening layer, the following will not be used.
There is a slider at each end of the gradient strip, the rightmost part is the bright part of the control image, and the leftmost side is the dark part of the control image.
The sliders look like a whole, but in reality they can be split and moved separately. If you just click on one of the sliders to move it will produce a very noticeable and rough transition effect. If you slide the slider apart, it will produce a slight smoothing effect.
Start by lowering the highlight halo, press Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and click on the far right slider, then move to the left. Pressing Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) lets Photoshop split the sliders you want to move to create a smooth transition.
As the bright slider moves to the left end, the glow halo effect gradually disappears. Try to pull it to the left to eliminate all the highlights.
After moving the half of the right slider to the left, the blur effect of the light fades to the point where it is not obvious, leaving the black blur halo effect.
Press Alt (Win) / Option (Mac), drag half of the left slider, move to the right to the end and blur out the black.
When the adjustment is complete, click OK to close the Blending Options dialog. The skin looks softer now.
Step 11: Add a layer mask
The skin has been softened by the above operation, but the eyes, lips, hair and the like of the portrait are softened, and the extra softening effect needs to be masked below. Click the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) button in the Layers panel to add a mask.
The layer masks we add are default white, but by adding a layer mask to Alt (Win) / Option (Mac), Photoshop will automatically add a black layer mask to soften the overall layer. The effect is covered.
Step 12: Select the brush tool
Select the Brush tool to display the softening effect of the skin part.
Step 13: Set the foreground color to white
To display the softening effect, you need a white brush. Photoshop automatically uses the current foreground color as the brush color, so you need to adjust the foreground color to white. The foreground and background colors can be seen near the toolbar toggle button. If it is not white, you can press D to reset the color to white.
Step 14: Shows the softening effect
After using the white brush, you only need to paint on the skin to show the softening effect. Of course, the soft brush effect will be better, press [,] to quickly adjust the brush size, and press shift + [ or ] to adjust the brush hardness.
Also check the other settings before starting to paint. The mode is normal, the opacity is 100%, and the flow rate is 100%. If the previous settings have not been changed back, it may affect the operation.
Starting from the portrait forehead, since the painting is directly on the layer mask, you can't see the trace of the brush, but you will see the softening effect appear.
Paint the nose, cheeks, and skin around the eyes, and adjust the brush size according to the size of the area. If you accidentally paint the wrong place, you can press X to switch the foreground color to black, hide the wrong part of the painting, and then press X to switch the foreground color to white and continue painting.
Continue to paint on your mouth and chin, taking care to avoid your lips.
Check layer mask
If you want to see what the mask is specifically painted, press Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and click on the mask thumbnail in the layer mask.
At this time, the image will become a black and white image of the mask, and white is the place to be displayed. Although it may seem a little scary, this can be checked to make sure there are no painting errors. If you find it wrong, you can adjust it directly on the mask with a brush, then press Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) again and click on the mask thumbnail in the layer mask to return to the normal image.
Step 15: Reduce opacity
Usually after the above adjustment, the softening effect will be a bit too strong, you can reduce the softening effect by reducing the layer opacity, find the opacity setting item in the layer panel, generally set at 40%~60% will be compared Suitable, but to be determined according to the actual image, set here to 50%.
After reducing the layer opacity, the final effect is as follows.
Summary
This PS tutorial will end here. In the next tutorial we will continue to introduce the portrait beautification processing tutorial. Thank you!
